MALACCA: Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam today declared an all-out assault on the Bukit Katil parliamentary seat, calling for Barisan Nasional to not allow lightning to strike twice come the 14th General Election.
Having suffered a shock defeat to PKR's Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin in the 2013 general election, then as the outgoing Malacca chief minister, Mohd Ali broke down the mistakes in underestimating the importance of attention to detail in that election.
"Records show that there were votes thrown the other way. These are the facts that we cannot deny and we must work from now to counter them. On top of the votes that we got in the last elections, we now need to focus on gaining another 2,800 votes," said Mohd Ali.
In 2013, Mohd Ali received 40,720 votes and lost to Shamsul Iskandar, who gained 46,167, by a majority of 5,447 votes.
"This showed that some of our members too voted the other way. We must ensure that does not happen again," said Mohd Ali, in launching the Bukit Katil BN Pembela service centre, next to the division's Umno office this afternoon.
"The candidate will be announced later by the party, but our work begins now and as the division chief, I will be putting myself forward in this battle. If we are going into a battle to take back this seat, then as the division chief I am the general. If we are to fall, I will fall first," declared Mohd Ali.
The service centre was set up to engage with the public and provide services including healthcare, legal services for businesses and individuals and to provide community services in the area.
"First, we must ensure that all BN component parties secure their members' votes. If we have all those on the Umno, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and MyPPP membership, then we have 39,100 votes. Then we have to secure those who are not party members but support BN," said Mohd Ali.
"With the work done from now in engaging with the public, solving their issues and reassuring them, I am sure we can achieve the targeted votes and win back Bukit Katil."